So what do you think about those sub numbers back in 2009-2010 era including people who paid by the hour at video game cafes in Asia?
Surely there were people who were just checking the game out a bit here and there while it was the new hotness, who were counted as a subscriber just the same as you or I would be paying $15 for a full month of game time.
Like, you could have played 3 hours or whatever and be a “subscriber”.
I’d like to know how finally getting wrath in China on iirc 8/31/2010, and then getting cata like 6 months later affected the playerbase. I would think that would be a tumultuous period for those players. Think about it. Did they get all the wrath patches? If so we’re they crammed together one on top of each other? Did people get to finally kill Arthas or were they still working on naxx / ulduar when cata came out and the entire world was revamped with the cataclysm?
I bet they lost a lot of people due to the weird launch schedule of wrath and cata, and at some point moving away from the pay by the hour gaming cafe system to true monthly subscriptions.
All I’m saying is, there is more to the story than just “subs were up in wrath”
Even if World of Warcraft had only two million active subscribers, it would still likely be the most popular MMO.
I’m not sure what FFXIV’s subscription numbers are, but the fact that it’s not even on any of the lists provided by SuperData tells me all I need to know.
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Wait!?! Hold the presses!! You mean the same thing that happens after every expansion launch happened with Shadowlands?!?!? Ok my gosh, what a headline!!
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A boatload of people are WORKING at home. It isn’t like unemployment is at 20%. It’s higher than we’d like it to be – very tough on those who worked retail and food service – but that isn’t most people.
And it also isn’t like people don’t have plenty of other kinds of entertainment. I very much doubt that your average WoW player who played 12 hours a week suddenly forgot how to watch TV or use Reddit or play other games and upped their WoW playing to 40 hours a week.
The people who burned out are the ones who always do because they live and breath WoW every free moment and then . . .burn out.
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Maybe. Back then everyone loved the game there were not many negative threads but now there are. Back then storm wind was full of people, Dalaran an was full of people. Nowadays there are people there but not to that extent. Every questing zone was full.
Part of me thinks wow is just an old game, back then it was new it felt adventurous , now ur just waiting for the same thing level , gear up , kill bosses.
Dungeons have been 5 man forever I’m not sure why they haven’t increased it to 7 ppl. It’s the same dps heal tank. They could add support classes that do a very unique roll. Raid mechanics are starting to repeat themselves. Soak avoid link move objects. Etc
No amount of complexity changes the basic nature of an old game. Class revamps pre expansion suck they need to release those with the expansion. People pretty much have classes figured out in the pre patch.
I also think ptr alpha beta should not be allowed to release videos on YouTube Having all the content to view on YouTube before expansion even launches makes it not as engaging if u did it without viewing those. Sure you could just not look at them but with so much hype it’s really hard to do.
I personally think they needs to bring new unique ideas to the game. Something like 7 man dungeons, support classes that augment damage done and reduce damage taken, lots of utility but not much through put. Engaging content so power progression does not feel like a chore. Example of chore is artefact knowledge/ power in legion bfa. Currently 10 dungeons are needed for 3 items to appear in the vault. They could have made it 5 or 6. Some player feel overwhelmed by the amount of stuff u need to do. Min maxing is the meta now so blizz should take that into account . Currently if you want ur toon to be caught up you need to do
Dailies
- callings
- daily maw Stygia and rep farm
- World quests for anima
Weekly
- full raid clear
- 10 mythic +
- pvp rated honor farm
- weekly anima farm
- weekly maw quests
- weekly torghast
Not to mention if u chose to swap covenants it’s punishing as hell. You are punishing player for simply trying something new.
This game is overly punishing for hardcore players who need 2-3 alts. It’s punishing for casuals who can’t keep even 1 toon caught up. Now it’s punishing people who play the game for xmogs since they can’t even farm legion raids anymore.
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There were tons of negative threads back then. Xyz ruining the game. Wow is dead. Casuals are a blight on Warcraft. It’s the era “Wrath baby” came from and back then people didn’t use it as a cute way to say “that’s when I started” like they’d do with “90’s kids remember this” memes. Wrath baby was 100% an insult levied against casuals.
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I like the idea about having 7 man dungeons. Maybe a “flex” dungeon that can have 3-5 dps? It would absorb some of the extra dps when there aren’t enough tanks and healers queuing.
You wrote a few other interesting things that I’ll have to reread when I’m home from work in a bit.
I’m just waiting out my 6 month sub, and I doubt I’ll even log in after next week since I’ll have 40 renown. I was already bored, but the no customization options thing really killed off my last shred of excitement.
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LOL! Yeah I know. But a lot of people leaving are the casual ones who say they can only play a couple hours at a time a few times a week so I went for 12 hours.
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Same. I hit my 40 next week, and that is the last thing I want from this expansion. Gimme my Countess title, and call it a day.
I did my renown today… what’s that… I’m logging in 8 hours a month right now? LMFAO.
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I basically quit at this point. I am tired of the same thing for what seems like the millionth time. I did the story and stopped pretty much. I get ahead of the curve still (not sure why I even care) and then completely stop until the next patch. This time might be different though. I am thinking I might not even come back in future patches unless the game gets a complete overhaul which can not happen mid expansion.
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I’d be curious to see the % of players who drop off the map after next week / 40 renown, and the amount of us who were just playing until we get it.
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Put a fork in them. This company is done. Bankruptcy next. I hope no one owns their stock.
Normally the trend is over a much longer period. Months instead of weeks.
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Can’t wait to see Blizzard declare banckrupty! Please post here next when it happens!
Everyone acting like the expansion spike and decline being normal is somehow the same as being okay. This isn’t the way it used to be. The game grew steadily throughout vanilla and tbc, and stayed largely flat through wrath. It’s only since cata that the game has seen steep player drops shortly after each expansion, and the long-term trend is downwards.
The game may not die in shadowlands or even the next expansion, but if blizzard doesn’t seriously turn the game around this trend will kill the game sooner than later.
Subs from “the East”, meaning predominantly China, made up more than half of total subs back then.
If that is true then my theory about the bizzare wrath > cata period in China could have explained the drop in global subscribers beginning at that time.
Also, I’m sure the change from pay-by-the-hour “subscriptions” to Monthly paid subscriptions also saw a drop in that region.
They will just make a bunch of mobile games and can WoW before going bankrupt. I’m sure we will see a Warcraft Clash of Clans or Forge of Empires soon. Maybe even a game like Fallout Shelter, but building some kind of Warcraft garrison on your phone.
They do own King games after all.
